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Leap his full-time job. Frog’s Leap has continued to grow and
produced more than 50,000 cases in 2000. There are a variety
of reasons for its success, but the overriding theme is best
summed up by the following paragraph from the company’s
mission statement:
We will strive to produce wines of excellent value that are fresh,
delicious, and natural using the best of Napa Valley’s organically
grown grapes. Our professional presentation will be juxtaposed
with our image of irreverent humor, fun, genuine hospitality,
openness, and honest caring.The winery has always been committed to quality and has
refused to compromise with respect to quality. As John says,
“Our goal is to have fun making elegant wines with superb
balance.”
While the contents of the bottle may be award-winning
quality, the exterior of the bottle reflects the fun and humor of
the company. The company’s motto is “Time’s Fun When
You’re Having Flies.” Each bottle’s label—which won a presti-
gious wine label award at the time it was designed—features
an elongated frog in mid leap; it also contains the instructions,
“Open Other End,” at the base of the label. The humor con-
tinues when the bottle is opened as the word “ribbit” is clearly
marked on every cork. But make no mistake, their first objec-
tive is to produce world-class wines, and if awards are any
indication, they are clearly meeting this objective.
Dan Berger described the quality of the wines in the holi-
day 1995 issue of Wine Enthusiast.In an article about the 10
most underrated wineries on the West Coast, Berger states,
I don’t know why people don’t see the utter greatness in the
wines John Williams makes. His Cabernets are packed with fruit
and elegance, his Zinfandel is among the best made anywhere,
and his Sauvignon Blanc is a world-beater. This is simply one of
the best producers in California and it never seems to get the
acclaim it deserves. Maybe John’s label note “Open Other End” is
too subtle for the number of reviewers. (For that matter, his cork
says it all!)Speaking of the label, John looked for an unknown artist
who would be willing to design a label for $100 and several
cases of wine. Charles House agreed to do the job and was
specifically told not to put a frog on the label. But that’s ex-
actly what House created—a captivating, eye-catching
rendition of a frog in full leap—a frog “going for it” all out!
The label went on to win one of the nation’s top graphic de-
sign awards, House became famous, and Frog’s Leap wine
labels became part of the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.
By 1994, the winery was not only successful but was burst-
ing at the seams. The company was still located at The Frog
Farm, but the business had “succeeded far beyond our expecta-
tions.” According to John, “Frog’s Leap was faced with a lack
of production space, a lack of office space, and the need to
make the winery accessible to the public.” There was also a
sense that John and Larry had different goals for both the win-
ery and their personal lives. Larry wanted to spend less time
being a doctor and more time involved in the day-to-day as-
pects of making wine—but on a much smaller scale. They
decided, in a very amicable agreement, to split the winery in
half. Larry, who owned the property where Frog’s Leap had
been located, kept the winery, all the winemaking equipment,
and the one acre of sauvignon blanc vines located at the site.
John retained the Frog’s Leap brand, the wine inventory, and
the marketing program.
The only problem with the split was the fact that John
needed a place to put his winery—it was a winery in name
only. He quickly found the ideal spot, a 38-acre parcel on the
Rutherford Crossroad with a 8,000-square-foot barn, The Red
Barn, which had been built in 1884 as a winery. Although the
barn needed a great deal of renovation, it was restorable for use
as a winery. The site also provided John with the land he
needed to grow some of his own grapes and to practice sus-
tainable agriculture and organic farming.
In the six years since John moved the winery to The Red
Barn location, Frog’s Leap has continued to improve both its
reputation and the quality of its wines. And it has been able to
succeed even though more and more wineries have been built
in the Napa Valley and as more and more big corporate winer-
ies (e.g., Sutter Home, Robert Mondavi, and Kendall-Jackson,
just to name a few) have dominated the Napa and Sonoma
Valleys.- How would you describe the position strategy for Frog’s
Leap? How do you think it differs from a large, corporate
winery such as Sutter Home? - How has Frog’s Leap grown over the years? What are the
growth strategies that John Williams plans to follow in the
future? - Do you think the first half of the twenty-first century will
be a hospitable environment for winemakers in the U.S.?
Why or why not?
Girl Scouts*Girl Scouting is dedicated to and available to all girls age 5
to 17. Today there are approximately 3.6 million Girl Scouts
in the U.S., including over 2.7 million girls and nearly
900,000 adult members, most of whom are volunteers. Mem-
bership categories for the girls are
Category Age Grade
Daisy 5 – 6K, 1
Brownie 6, 7, 8 1, 2, 3
Junior Girl Scout 8, 9, 10, 11 3, 4, 5, 6
Cadette Girl Scout 11, 12, 13, 14 6, 7, 8, 9
Senior Girl Scout 14 – 17 9 – 12
Membership is at an all-time high. In 1999, as a result of
specific target market initiatives, growth was especially strong
among Hispanic (a 6.3 percent increase) and African-
American (5.9 percent increase) girls. And membership is not
just limited to the United States. Through its membership in
the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, Girl
Scouts of the U.S.A. (GSUSA) is part of a larger entity of over
10 million girls in 140 countries. Although some programs for5*This case and accompanying video script were prepared by Dr.
George Prough, the University of Akron, with assistance from Lori
Arguelles, Communications Director, GSUSA, and Mary Kintz, Direc-
tor of Member Services, Western Reserve Girl Scouts Council.